Playwright-businessman's first drama to benefit neglected kids

Businessman and writer Gladney Darroh says his new play, "This American Family," is about healing and a diverse cast of characters who learn to put their lives back together after tragedy strikes.

Businessman and writer Gladney Darroh says his new play, "This American Family," is about healing and a diverse cast of characters who learn to put their lives back together after tragedy strikes.

Photo: Melissa Phillip, Staff

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Businessman and writer Gladney Darroh looks for ward to the production of his play, "This American Family." It's about healing after tragedy, strong women and abused and neglected children. ( Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle ) less

Businessman and writer Gladney Darroh looks for ward to the production of his play, "This American Family." It's about healing after tragedy, strong women and abused and neglected children. ( Melissa Phillip / ... more

Photo: Melissa Phillip, Staff

Playwright-businessman's first drama to benefit neglected kids

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Gladney Darroh was miserable as he trudged to an evening English class at the University of Houston. He dreamed of becoming a writer, but as he braved the cold and mud that winter night more than 40 years ago, he asked himself:

In the next few days, he switched his major from English and creative writing to business.

Today, Darroh still is president and CEO of Piper-Morgan Associates, the staffing company he founded in 1977. But he never lost his passion for writing, and at age 65, he's about to see his first musical drama, "This American Family," on stage at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.

Proceeds from the five shows will benefit Boys and Girls Harbor in LaPorte.

The play is about healing, Darroh says, and the diverse cast of characters who learn to put their lives back together after tragedy strikes. It's also about strong women, just like the ones he's known all his life.

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Free tickets: Veterans and their families are guests at 2 p.m. Saturday. Register at thisamericanfamilyplay.com/gsbsregistration. (Gold Star if a family member died while serving; Blue Star for veterans and current service members.) Law enforcement officers and their families are guests at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Register at thisamericanfamilyplay.com/hpouregistration.

"They care for their families every single day by doing the simple things," Darroh said. "They're making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for their kids' school lunches. They're helping with homework. Their roles may not seem glamorous, but they are the glue that holds everyone together."

Darroh knows a thing or two about family heartbreak. He was 14 when his father lost the family savings and left for Brazil to earn the money back. His mother, penniless, had the task of rearing Darroh and his two older brothers.

They had so few resources they had to move into a small, one-bedroom apartment owned by his grandmother, and all three boys went to work. On Saturdays, Darroh held three different jobs, the first starting at 7 a.m. and the last ending at 10 p.m.

By the time Darroh was 16, his older brothers were living in a cheap apartment in Houston, and he decided it was time to move in with them. He stayed in school - he attended nearby Lamar High School - but he was never a conventional student. He kept working to help his brothers pay the bills and buy food and school supplies.

"I was lonely," he said. "That's what got me reading and writing as an outlet."

Even after he switched majors at UH, started his business, married, divorced and gained sole custody of his two toddlers, he kept up his literary efforts.

"I'd write children's stories for the kids," he said, "and short stories for myself. Then I'd throw them away."

Whatever he read, whether it was a newspaper story or a doorstop of a novel, he would dissect it as if it were a bug in a lab.

"I wanted to know how the author put the story together. But what was really helpful was just writing. The best way to learn was by doing."

On Easter in 2010, Darroh decided he was ready to write a play, his favorite literary genre. What emerged, however, was a 350-page novel, "Women of Uncommon Strength."

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"It was modeled after my mother and grandmother and the women teachers who had been so helpful to me," Darroh said. "It's about women who have strong characters, strong morals, strong faith and the men they love. Their families suffer losses and crosses, but instead of those tragedies tearing them apart, they come out on the other side and find their losses are restored to them."

Proceeds from the book, available on Amazon.com, also go to Darroh's favorite charity, Boys and Girls Harbor.

He had discovered the LaPorte home for neglected and abused children years earlier, when his cousin served as a guest parent and introduced him to one of the girls she was hosting for the weekend.

The child made an indelible impression on Darroh and eventually became a major character in his book. He became a Harbor volunteer, gave generously to the cause and eventually became chairman of the board.

"He built a new cottage on our campus," fellow board member Cooky Mays said. "Usually it takes several big donors to do something like that, but he did it on his own." Darroh finished the book in 2012, but he wasn't satisfied. He still thought it should be a play. His problem then was paring it down from 112,000 words to 15,000. And he wanted to add music.

Though he is still rewriting, even now, he is pleased with the play's themes.

"On the stage, typically what you see are families tearing each other apart. My characters are hurting. Relationships get strained. Faith gets tested. But precisely because these women stick to their values, they come out on the other side with a greater appreciation for life and a better understanding of God's relation to them."

Darroh is doing this play, as he does most things, his way.

He found, interviewed and hired Steven Jamail, the composer of the 10 songs in the production.

He did the same with director and choreographer Paula Sloan.

It's been interesting, she said, to watch Darroh adjust from his workaday world, where things get done on a schedule, to the theater world.

"Artists have no sense of time," Sloan said. "With them, it's a process, a building process, and layers. Things don't happen efficiently with an art form. It's what comes out of you, and sometimes it doesn't come out immediately."

After Darroh rented Zilkha Hall at the Hobby Center for the weekend, he decided that tickets for two of the performances should be given away, free. The Saturday matinee is reserved for veterans and their families and Gold Star and Blue Star mothers. The Sunday evening performance is reserved for law enforcement officers and their families.

"It's my way of giving back," Darroh said.

He admits to being a little bit nervous, but mostly he is thrilled.

"I'm a brand-new artist with a brand-new play, a couple of thousand people are going to see it, and all these needy children are going to benefit. In my mind, that's success."